Windows Services

 Itis used to define the background process

for any windows based applications.

 Note  in previous technology applications

windows service is used to called as NT
services.
Steps to design Windows Services
 Step 1 Select Windows Service Template from the VS.Net
IDE.
Specify the name for the windows service [ for e.g 
simplewindowsservice1 ]
note  the name of the windows service application will be
used for registering the windows service to the service
registry.
 Step 2  right click any where in the form and click on add
installer.
Note  The above step will define
 ServiceProcessInstaller and  ServiceInstaller
Steps to design Windows Services
 ServiceProcessInstaller This is used to specify the
Account type for the windows service.
Account types supported by the windows service are
Local Service  if account type is set to the local service
then that service can be used by all the users registered with
in the system.
Network Service  if account type is set to the network
service then that service can be used by all the users
connected within the network.
Note  if the account type is either Local Service or
Network Service then that windows service cant interact
with the desktop.
User(default)  if the account type of the windows
service is user then that service can be used only by that
application.
Steps to design Windows Services
 Local System  it is same as the local service but it has a
capability to interact with the user desktop.
 ServiceInstaller  It is used to specify the display name of
the windows service to be displayed at the service registry
service name of the windows service and also the start up
type for the service.
Note  service name specified at the ServiceInstaller will
be used to bind the windows service to the dot net
applications.
 Step 3 set the properties for the ServiceProcessInstaller
and the ServiceInstaller
for serviceProcessInstaller :
account  localsystem
for serviceInstaller 
display name  simple windows (any name)service
service name  simple (any name) service
start type  manual
Steps to design Windows Services
 Step 4  click on the service1.vb[design] tab.
 Step 5  click on the “click here to switch to code view”
link button.
 Step 6  write the code as per the requirement on the
relevant procedures.
For e.g
onStartEvent
msgbox(“service started”)
onStopEvent
msgbox(“service stopped”)
when ever any value is been passed from the application to
the windows service then it can be collected from the onstart
method using its parameter “args”
 Step 7 click on build  build solution
note  the above step will define a windows service
application but it will not be registered on to the NT
service registry.
 Step 8 [ in dot net command prompt ]
register the windows service to the NT service registry
syntax  installutil –i <ApplicationName.exe>
note  once a windows service is been registered in order
to re-register the service it is mandatory to uninstall the
service from the registry to do
installutil –u <ApplicationName.exe>
 To view the windows serives registered on to the NT
service registry 
start  run  services.msc
 To start the service manually to do
 right click on the windows service display name on to
the registry and click on services
 click on the logon tab and then check “allow service to
interact with desktop” checkbox
 click on apply and then OK buttons.
 right click on the display name and click on start to
start the service and stop to halt the processing of the
service.
Binding windows service to the windows application
 Step 1  select windows application template from VS.Net
IDE.
 Step 2  Design the form as per the requirement.
 Step 3  Click on the components tab present in the
ToolBox and drag drop the service controller control on to
the form.
 Step 4  set the service Name property of the service
Controller with the windows service which has to be binded
to the application.
For e.g service name  simplewindowsservice1
 Write the code as per the requirement.
 To start the service :-
serviceControllerName.start([argValue(s)])
note whenever the application has to pass
some values to a windows service then
argValue(s) should be used.
 To stop the service :-
serviceControllerName.stop()